Difference between revisions of "Taxpayers' Alliance"

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[[Eric Pickles]] | [[Liam Fox]] | [[David Davis]]
 
[[Eric Pickles]] | [[Liam Fox]] | [[David Davis]]
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The board now features no one who could be described as just an ordinary taxpayer. Members include Ruth Lea, the former chief economist at Lehman Brothers, Mike Denham, a former Treasury economist who worked on tax and spending under Margaret Thatcher, and Saul Haydon Rowe, partner at financial firm Devon Capital LLP.
 
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Some of the group's fringe campaigns also seem to dilute the idea that this is an alliance of ordinary taxpayers. Its campaign against "hate education" in the Palestinian territories stemmed from Elliott's personal concern about incitement of hatred towards Jewish people in the Middle East, his pro-Israel stance and the perception that British taxpayers' money was being misused to subsidise the publication of incendiary schoolbooks there.
 
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It is also about to launch "Big Brother Watch" led by David Cameron's former chief of staff, Alex Deane, to "fight injustice and to protect personal liberties".
 
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Elliott believes the grassroots support of its main cause will grow.
 
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"I want lots more members," he said. "I would like to get to a situation where we have as many members as the Liberal Democrats.
 
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"Perhaps our time will come next year if there are public sector strikes [over the proposed Tory cuts]. That will be a key recruiter. We contend that wages in the public sector are higher than for similar jobs in the private sector. On top of that public sector workers have final salary pensions, so if they strike there will be frustration among the general public."
 
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Key funder the MIC said the TPA must be equally aggressive in its campaign against the waste of taxpayers' money, if it is to continue to finance the TPA.
 
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"The last thing we would want is to be accused of funding a political party by the back door," said David Wall.
 
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Elliott insists the TPA will challenge a Tory government just as vigorously.
 
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"I intend to take on David Cameron on value for money as aggressively as I have Gordon Brown," he said. "[If there are strikes] we will take on the unions as well as the government."
 
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Who's who: Alliance's backers
 
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David Alberto, 41, the co-owner of Avanta, a serviced offices company with operations in London, India and the United Arab Emirates, has donated free serviced office space in Westminster worth an estimated £100,000 a year.
 
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"My bugbear is taxes and the cost of the state and how it has grown," Alberto said. "It is wrong to be spending a greater and greater proportion of GDP on central government. Stamp duty and capital gains tax have restricted our ability to expand."He said he keeps money in a family trust offshore, but the bulk of his wealth is held in his UK-registered companies.
 
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Malcolm McAlpine, 92, a director of Sir Robert McAlpine, the construction firm building London's Olympic stadium, has given an undisclosed amount to the TPA. "Our family business … advocates value for money government and we, for some years, supported the Taxpayers Alliance, which brings to general attention a large number of instances of apparent excessive and unproductive expenditure of public funds," he said.
 
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The TPA has criticised the Olympics project, which is funded with £9.3bn in public money.
 
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"The fact that one supports an institution does not mean that one agrees or disagrees with every detail of their policies," said McAlpine.
 
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Anthony Bamford, 63, a director of Staffordshire-based JC Bamford, which manufactures JCB diggers, has made minor donations in a private capacity, his spokesman said.
 
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Bamford has also donated large sums of money to the Conservative
 
  
 
==Independence==
 
==Independence==

Revision as of 01:47, 24 January 2011

The Taxpayers' Alliance (TPA) is a right-wing single-issue think tank and lobbying group advocating "lower taxes and reformed public services". On 19 September 2007, the Hayek Society, a LSE right-wing group, circulated a job description to its members for a internships at TPA.

In a March 2009 presentation TPA Chief Executive Matthew Elliott and Tim Montgomerie described IEA as part of the infrastructure of the conservative movement in Britain.[1]

Susie Squire formerly of the Stockholm Network acted as the TPA campaign manager until 2010 when she left to work as an advisor to Iain Duncan Smith.[2]

History

The Taxpayers' Alliance was set up in 2003 by Matthew Elliott, a 25-year-old political researcher for Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope. According to the Guardian Elliott had been impressed by Republican grassroots campaigns to cut tax and spending he had seen in America – particularly the work of Grover Norquist who campaigned against Hillary Clinton's healthcare plans during Bill Clinton's presidency. He argued:

'Up until that point Britain didn't need a taxpayers' group because we had the Conservatives, but then they stopped talking about it and so I saw a niche,'.

Elliott decided to affect public opinion through press campaigns, he was joined in setting up the alliance by his wife Florence Heath and Andrew Allum. The Guardian notes that Heath's father, Alexander, was also appointed despite living in France and not paying any British tax.[3]

Funding

An investigation by the Guardian in 2009 found that the TPA is funded by 'wealthy donors, many of whom are prominent supporters of the Conservative party'. The investigation found that:

'Sixty per cent of donations come from individuals or groups giving more than £5,000. The Midlands Industrial Council, which has donated £1.5m to the Conservatives since 2003, said it has given around £80,000 on behalf of 32 owners of private companies. Tony Gallagher, owner of Gallagher UK, a property company that gave the Conservatives £250,000 in 2007, is a member of the MIC, as is Christopher Kelly who owns the international haulage firm Keltruck, and Robert Edmiston who owns IM Group, a large car importer'.

TPA Funding rose from £64,457 in 2005 to more than £1 milllion in 2009[4]

Donors

The Midlands Industrial Council | Tony Gallagher | Christopher Kelly | Robert Edmiston | Anthony Bamford | Malcolm McAlpine | David Alberto | Stuart Wheeler | Rocco Forte | John Craven

Speakers at TPA Events

Eric Pickles | Liam Fox | David Davis

Independence

In December 2008 Susie Squire from the TPA was asked by Nick Ferrari on his LBC Breakfast Radio Show if the Taxpayers Alliance was 'secretly Conservative?', she responded by saying:

I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I can’t have that – that’s outrageous! That’s just absolutely outrageous!' adding 'we’re totally independent, we talk to everyone. I mean, God, I was in Wales at the end of last week, giving evidence on MPs’ expenses to a cross-party independent panel in the Welsh Assembly. We talk to everyone who wants to talk to us. We produce research that goes out to many MPs, cross-party, that goes out to journalists. We don’t have a party preference. Yes of course we have advisors and we have a board – any think tank worth its salt does. We’ll talk to anyone.'[5]

Squire left the Taxpayers Alliance in May 2010 to work as an advisor to the Conservative Party's Iain Duncan Smith.[6]

Criticism

Conservative councillor for Ealing and Northfield Phil Taylor described his relationship with the TPA in February 2009:

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the TaxPayers’ Alliance. I was involved with them in their very early days. I helped them with their initial fund raising and organising but I got disillusioned because their first publication, The Bumper Book of Government Waste, mixed up capital and revenue and different years and wasn’t really a serious analysis of waste – at least not one that was any use to anyone.[7]

Publications

Personnel

Founders

Staff

Academic Advisory Council

Volunteers

Source[8]

Affiliations

External Resources

References, Resources and Contact

Contact

The TaxPayers' Alliance
55 Tufton Street
London, SW1P 3QL

Website: tpa.typepad.com

References

  1. ↑ Tim Montgomerie, The growth of Britain's conservative movement, ConservativeHome, 14 March 2009.
  2. ↑ Guido Fawkes, Susie Squire Slips in to Spinning at the DWP for IDS, Guido Fawkes, 27-May-2010, Accessed 25-June-2010
  3. ↑ Robert Booth, Who is behind the Taxpayers Alliance, The Guardian, 9-October-2009, Accessed 24-January-2011
  4. ↑ Robert Booth, Who is behind the Taxpayers Alliance, The Guardian, 9-October-2009, Accessed 24-January-2011
  5. ↑ Newswire, Tax Payers Alliance challenged, Liberal Conspiracy, 17-December-2008, Accessed 25-June-2010
  6. ↑ Guido Fawkes, Susie Squire Slips in to Spinning at the DWP for IDS, Guido Fawkes, 27-May-2010, Accessed 25-June-2010
  7. ↑ Phil Taylor, All Those Fat Cat Teachers, Philtaylor.org.uk, 2-February-2009, Accessed 24-January-2011
  8. ↑ Taxpayers' Alliance Who we are, accessed 20 September 2007
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